All the theory, all the knowledge, all the heartbreak and drama... starts here.
In 2012, XJ Randall started a blog to enhance his association with nature and with God. What he didn't know is that his venture into the unknown was expected for a very, very long time.

Friday, July 12, 2013

'Paper-code': A 'Drawing Language'

Going to make this short. Here is my idea or solution for the recurring problem I have with conventional programming and its techniques.

PROBLEM:

When artists want to create something, programming languages restrict their creativity and prohibit their drive because of the length of time it takes to gather the appropriate resources or the amount of concentration required to think through the problems and translate the idea into a reality. Ultimately, this takes energy away from the purpose to actually create the idea.

Again, artists like me tend to initially draw the idea on a piece of paper first. But the problem exists because we have to transfer the idea from the paper, to our minds, and after a significant amount of time figuring out how to efficiently represent this in code, put it into the computer, by typing it character by character, one line at a time. Seems tedious doesn't it...?

SOLUTION:

This is where 'Paper-code' comes in. Instead having to take extra steps to transfer and translate idea to code, the drawing on paper should be the last step a user has to do before their idea is executed. With 'Paper-code', the drawing is recognized through the camera or other device and is directly translated into computer code for the user, or artist.

'Paper-code' is basically a "drawing language" or an object and stroke recognition for images including lines, colors, text, handwriting, etc. An example would be a user drawing a diagram, adherent to 'Paper-code' drawing language, of a simple "Hello, world!" html page. Each part of the html page might succeed from top to bottom and the <divs> might be enclosed in drawn out boxes. For javascript animations, the 'Paper-code' might require symbols that denote change from one state to another.

ERRORS (Syntax, etc.):

You might say, "What about errors...!" I thought about this as well. We could use a dry erase board to put in front of the recognizer (camera / scanner). That way the image can be erased, but if it were successful it could be saved on the computer in computer code.

OTHER THINGS:

Another thing I didn't mention is that it could also be used to recognize drawing language done in photoshop.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that "drawings" or image-code can be placed on top of each other, meaning the subsequent drawing will add to the previous compiled 'Paper-code'. Changing or editing the computer code could be as simple as erasing a part on the original drawing and having the recognizer realize which part was erased and apply changes.